Nagpur: Parents of seven infants, which were saved from Bhandara district hospital fire on January 9, have been asked to wait for some more days before their babies can be discharged. The hospital administration made a U-turn a day after assuring them that the babies would be discharged on Tuesday.
It is learnt that the hospital withheld the discharge of the babies after the administration was informed about Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s visit on Wednesday. The governor is likely to visit the hospital around 9.30am. He has reached Nagpur on Tuesday and would be on a tour of Vidarbha till January 17.
One of the parents said they were surprised when a nurse told them that “some more VIPs are expected to visit and they will have to stay till then.”
The families belong to different villages in Bhandara district.
Civil surgeon Pramod Khandate told TOI that paediatrician has advised some more days of hospitalization for the babies. “The babies are still underweight and can’t be discharged at the moment,” he said.
On Monday, Khandate had told TOI that the parents would be allowed to go the next day.
The parents had been demanding discharge complaining inconvenience following heavy movement of VIPs at the hospital since the January 9 tragedy, which left 10 babies dead in the fire at Sick Newborn Care Unit.
The parents have accused hospital administration of forcibly holding them back to show off the rescued babies. “Some of us were to be discharged on January 9, but since the incident took place, we stayed on. Now, it is clear that they only want us to be used for publicity. We want to go back home,” they said.
A bevy of cabinet ministers and politicians has been frequenting the hospital since January 9. State chief minister too visited the hospital and two villages on January 10.